Greeting from Montreal, Canada! Long time no see. It's been a very long time since I've been here. Been very busy as a concept artist in the gaming industry (Eidos Montreal). Got promoted to Props Art Director recently. I have included many props art work and art direction images from the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Part 1 is my concept art work and Part 2 is my art direction only since we nearly had 2000 props design so we had to outsource the work. 2000 props to design with 2 in-house concept artist, impossible!

Props design in games is a specialty. And having a background in industrial design does helps a lot in making objects look credible. The only thing that affects the final design is the polygon count. You don't spend months and months designing one object. You actually have a few days to design one. Obviously more complex objects can take up to a month.

There are a lot of character and environment concept artist out there. It's over saturated even. However just props design, it's not easy to find. We have have a really hard time finding props concept artist.

Anyways, just a heads up from a former industrial designer turned concept artist in the movie/gaming industry. There is work for industrial designers in the gaming world!

Nice stuff. I really enjoyed the art style in Deus Ex Human Revolution. Concept art and prop design have always interested me. What are some of the hardest parts of making the switch to prop design? Any advice for those interested in dipping their toes in it?

Johnathan wrote:Nice stuff. I really enjoyed the art style in Deus Ex Human Revolution. Concept art and prop design have always interested me. What are some of the hardest parts of making the switch to prop design? Any advice for those interested in dipping their toes in it?

Deus Ex is what is called "mechanical design" where parting lines are slightly exaggerated. We add more parting lines to give the effect that there's more parts to the object. It would be an engineering's nightmare to try to produce those objects! We also base on current objects or prototypes to design our props. We avoid doing to much "inventions" because the game is NOT Sci-fi, it's near future.

Good question! It was an easy switch. I knew how to draw well and had good technically knowledge of how objects are built. Learned all that in design firms. De-molding angles, where to put screws, using different materials, etc. I was always a curious guy and always took things apart. So, when I had my first gig in 2000 for a movie to design car interiors, I was confident that I could do the job. It was a design field (transportation) that I wanted to go into. It's amazing that you get payed to draw cool things without too many design limits. After my first movie, I was asked to do props design for others. No problem, it's industrial design to me.

However, doing just props design does limit you to specific movies. Movies that require cool sci-fi designs. If I drew environments and characters, I would have been busy all the time. Same for the gaming industry. It all depends of the subject. Most game companies ask to be versatile (environment and character) concept artist. If there's not a lot of props to design, characters or environment concept artist will do it. In my case, I'm lucky to have and is working on a game that requires very specific props design (including weapons).

Blaak wrote: Deus Ex is what is called "mechanical design" where parting lines are slightly exaggerated. We add more parting lines to give the effect that there's more parts to the object. It would be an engineering's nightmare to try to produce those objects! We also base on current objects or prototypes to design our props. We avoid doing to much "inventions" because the game is NOT Sci-fi, it's near future.

I can imagine that most objects would be exaggerated compared to real life so they would look good on screen, so adding more complexity for visual impact would make sense. The fact that it was grounded in modern technology made it feel that much more real.

It's kind of interesting that focusing on prop design is a bit more limiting than environment or character design, but it's not over saturated like either of those are. Sounds like you worked yourself a fun little niche. Keep up the good work. By the way, was that you on all the various wanted posters scattered throughout the game?

Blaak wrote: Deus Ex is what is called "mechanical design" where parting lines are slightly exaggerated. We add more parting lines to give the effect that there's more parts to the object. It would be an engineering's nightmare to try to produce those objects! We also base on current objects or prototypes to design our props. We avoid doing to much "inventions" because the game is NOT Sci-fi, it's near future.

I can imagine that most objects would be exaggerated compared to real life so they would look good on screen, so adding more complexity for visual impact would make sense. The fact that it was grounded in modern technology made it feel that much more real.

It's kind of interesting that focusing on prop design is a bit more limiting than environment or character design, but it's not over saturated like either of those are. Sounds like you worked yourself a fun little niche. Keep up the good work. By the way, was that you on all the various wanted posters scattered throughout the game?

LOL! Yup, I managed to put my face in the game! Immortalized myself to show to my grand kids one day!

Environment concept artist focus on overall look and feel. When there are objects that are not clear to be modelized by the 3D modelers, I come into play. I zoom into the environment and design the details (props). Also, there are game play objects that needs design attention. Weapons is always a fun prop to design. I guess I do have a small niche.